dwl (12/30/82)
Jeff Williams' comment on the cost of keeping a second radio aboard for redundancy brings to mind an alternative solution (perhaps). I fly IFR about 25% of my flight time. When I replaced some old tube-type avionics recently, I was planning to buy two COM radios. The configuration I had in mind was 2 Narco centerline COMs, 2 centerline NAVs (one with glideslope), etc. Those two COMs cost about $1800 each. The second one is useful, but only needed when/if the first fails. For about $1000 I bought, instead, a Kingphone. This is an air/ground mobile telephone. When/if the normal vhf com radio fails, I can call the FAA on the phone! Costly, but how often does one expect to do it? Meanwhile, instead of doing nothing useful until a failure, the phone provides other capabilities which do not duplicate others provided by the standard avionics. Folks on the ground can call me from any phone. I can phone ahead when travel plans change... etc. The local phone company (NJ Bell) charges only for calls made ... there is no monthly charge for the service. Each call seems to cost about $5.00 plus normal operator-assisted toll rate for the link between the air/ground station and the called party. The cost of the equipment was about $800 less than that of the second vhf COM it replaced. The panel space required was about the same. Does anybody know if AMPS is supposed to serve aeronautical mobile phone installations? For now, air/ground service is non-dial, push-to-talk, and I've once or twice had to wait a minute or two for a free channel. -Dave Levenson -BTL Holmdel